Category - Andrew Tilker

Few places on the planet are as biologically spectacular as the Annamite mountains on the border of Vietnam and Lao PDR (Laos). These rugged, forest-clad mountains harbor numerous species that are found nowhere else on the planet. Remarkably, several of these species were only recently discovered, including one of the most elusive rabbits on the Read more

At the end of 2017, GWC associate conservation scientists are looking ahead at their goals for the new year, including their professional goals in the field of conservation, and their personal goals for ensuring they are helping protect the planet around the clock. Sagar Dahal, Associate Conservation Scientist Professionally, my goal is to reach out Read more

The Saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis)—a primitive wild cattle species endemic to the Annamite mountain range of Vietnam and Lao PDR—is on the verge of extinction. In a recent letter published in the journal Science, a group of conservation scientists call attention to the critical situation of the species and a bold new plan to save it Read more

When I came to Vietnam five years ago, striped rabbits were the furthest thing from my mind. Oh, sure, I knew about Nesolagus timminsi—it was, after all, one of the recently discovered Annamite endemic mammals that had collectively drawn me to this region—but my focus was on Saola. And so I spent the next three Read more

In the mid-1990s, the small landlocked country of Laos was a biological blank spot on the world map. The country had only recently opened its borders after years of isolation following the second Indochina conflict and then the struggles of installing a new communist government. Laos held vast unbroken tracts of tropical forest—but just what Read more

In July 2016, I traveled with a colleague of mine, An The Truong Nguyen, to Pu Mat National Park (NP), a protected area in a remote corner of north-central Vietnam. Pu Mat NP is believed to be one of the best places in Vietnam for rare and endangered Annamite endemic mammals. It was here that Read more

On its face a camera trap is a simple device: a camera, connected to a sensor, that takes a picture when the sensor detects movement. But this simple creation has revolutionized wildlife surveys, and nowhere more so than in tropical rainforests, where animals are often rare, difficult to observe and elusive. These “eyes in the Read more

I came to Southeast Asia thinking that I would study tigers. Instead I study tiger rabbits. If you had told me four years ago that the focus of my work, indeed my obsession, would be furry fluff balls that could fit in my hand, I would have thought you were crazy. And yet that is Read more

In July, Andrew Tilker, Ph.D. student at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and GWC associate conservation scientist, will be starting a new round of intensive fieldwork surveys in Laos. Andrew and his collaborators from WWF will be working in a remote forest in southeastern Laos called Xe Sap National Protected Area (NPA). Read more

May 20th marks Endangered Species Day, but at Global Wildlife Conservation, we celebrate biodiversity every second of every day. We checked in with GWC staff and GWC associate conservation scientists to learn more about why each person is committed to doing what it takes to conserve wildlife—and to discover which endangered species are among the Read more